Cox's Bazar Correspondent 

In a call to upgrade the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway to a six-lane road, a group of 11 activists completed a symbolic protest march and mass signature campaign that began in Chattogram and ended in Cox’s Bazar.

Marching under the banner "Amra 11 Jon (Nihoto)" or "We, the 11 (Deceased)," the group, clad in burial shrouds, started their journey from the Chattogram Press Club on Wednesday morning. They reached the Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner’s Office around 12:30 PM on Thursday.

A brief rally was held in front of the office, after which the activists handed over a memorandum containing six demands addressed to the Chief Adviser of the interim government, submitted through Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Salah Uddin.

Sourav Priyo Pal, the chief coordinator of the movement, stated that the march was organized in memory of the 11 people who lost their lives in a tragic road accident in Lohagara, Chattogram, on April 1. 

The group symbolically represented the deceased as they proceeded towards Cox’s Bazar. Along the route, they held human chains and gathered public signatures in various upazilas of southern Chattogram.

They emphasized the urgent need to upgrade the highway to six lanes, pointing out that the Chief Adviser of the interim government hails from Chattogram, which should place this issue high on the national agenda. Additionally, the group called for a ban on salt-laden trucks using the highway to improve overall safety.

During the first three days of Eid-ul-Fitr, 17 people lost their lives and over 30 were injured in separate road accidents along the Lohagara stretch of the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway, further underlining the activists' concerns.